Design for accessibility first – or else

eWorks’ Accredited Consultants are training, learning and development specialists. The Consultant Program allows us to work with industry thought leaders to champion our award-winning learning solutions. Let’s meet Francis Kneebone, eWorks Accredited Consultant and an accessibility advocate.

Why design for accessibility?

Design for accessibility first. It’s far too important to ignore and too hard to add on later. An accessibility-first approach also makes sense from a design perspective. The best way to make an educational video is to write a script, which can then be used as your plain-text alternative. It is the same when you write text content for a course – it would be bad practice to write your first copy in Authorware; it’s a better idea to make a plain-text version first. So when creating a digital object from scratch, your early output should include:

plain text

heading hierarchy

labelled images

transcripts for videos or animations

colour schemes and more.

A better experience for everyone

Accessibility in e-learning can sometimes become all about meeting government requirements or ticking off on web standards. It should really be about ensuring a better user experience, for everyone. If you want best practice in accessible e-learning, work with your learner group to go beyond the standard to improve your user experience. This will mean talking to your learners and asking them what could make their experience better. Standards are one measure, but mix this with the feedback from your learners and you’ll be on your way to approaching accessible products. And that means happier users in general.

Find out more

Not convinced? Or maybe you feel as strongly about all of this as I do? Either way, read more on the BlendEd website.

Want to become an accredited consultant for eWorks? The Accredited Consultant Program offers everything a consultant needs to start delivering eWorks’ e-learning solutions. Comprehensive training is provided, together with full ‘eWorks Accredited’ branding.